Glamor 'n Judgement and Photoshop Misdirection

There is a substantial reading prerequisite for you, dear readers, in order to fully understand this post.

1 - please read this essay from the NY Times Magazine first.
2 - I think that he's wearing his suit from H&M here (I told you to read the essay first!)
3 - please don't stop reading just because I am admitting that I am not a fan of the movie versions of Sex in the City and yes, I know that there must be something very, very wrong with me because of that fact.
4 - please read the article that I link to in the last line of this post.

When he referenced the ubiquitous-to-all-middle eastern-movie-sets belly dancers, I was reminded of my mom's take on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", which she enjoyed some of....but was concerned that the party scenes reinforced the stereotypes of ouzo drinking, weird-meat-cooking-on-a-spit-in-the-front yard Greeks.  (Mom isn't Greek, but she played one in her marriage to a Greek.)

Personally, the pre-wedding scene with the girls bleaching their moustaches had me internally screaming "Oh my god, that's my mom, me and my sister!!!!"

Moustafa's observation that perhaps his participation in SATC2 had possibly reinforced the stereotypes that he seeks to diminish.

He's right, but he had to control over the director and art director's concept of what is middle eastern....and this isn't 60 Minutes or Charlie Rose.....this is SJP-I-grew-up-listening-to-NPR-my-kids-will-too.....so cultured!

He comes clean and says it was the glamor that drew him in.  Manufactured glamor - photoshopped glamor (have you seen the weird versions of the SATC2 girls on the movie poster??)  I think that the government needs to set some standards on photoshopping because it's out of control in many ways - not just whacking down size 0 models to never-seen-before torso proportions.  I've talked about this before.

It was really the "they go to the grocery store just like us" kind of glamor that US Magazine provides in its front section - yeah I read it in the checkout line.    It's the only way our brain can connect the seemingly fabulous lives the stars live and how we live.

But Adobe Photoshop changed the game.

What you see is not what you get.

This is what Moustafa and all of us are up against.